Singapore artists and heritage businesses reflect on the challenges of belonging today

As a fast-developing nation, Singapore has undergone a significant transformation in its landscape since the 1960s. However, this constant evolution also means that the significance of buildings and communities that have become part of our local identity is always shifting.

In this special feature, we explore what it means to be part of this cultural fabric – from the community that keeps grassroots arts enclave 195 Pearl’s Hill Terrace alive, to the shop owners preserving their heritage businesses in conservation areas – and why these cultural spaces matter.

195 Pearl’s Hill Terrace: A thriving arts enclave

This tranquil hilltop building is more than just a hidden gem – it houses a vibrant and eclectic community. However, plans to redevelop this enclave into a housing estate mean it could all disappear by 2026. Here, we spotlight the unique businesses and people that make Pearl’s Hill Terrace special.

An eccentric array of statues and sculptures are placed randomly at various corners and in the courtyard of a conservation building (which used to house the Sikh Contingent of the Straits Settlement Police). Posters and cheery graffiti art cover its walls, and a DIY zen garden sits in front of a cosy Japanese-inspired cafe.

Welcome to 195 Pearl’s Hill Terrace (195 PHT), a ground-up arts enclave situated at the foot of the former Pearl Bank Apartments in Chinatown.

Visitors wander its quaint halls: on the first floor are creative, retail, and lifestyle spaces, such as art, music and dance studios, boutiques selling jewellery and ceramics, and even a table-tennis gym. Offices, tattoo studios and a hair salon occupy its second and third floors. On Wednesday evenings, musicians come together for live jamming session Akoustikult at Kult Yard, an outdoor watering hole on the ground floor.

“We support local and international artistes here,” says Zac Mirza, co-owner of Kult Yard. “We have beat poetry coming in every Wednesday as well. We want to merge rap artistes with beat poetry, and free jamming... It might be wishful thinking, but I hope to keep that ‘void deck’ spirit alive.”

Perhaps what makes 195 PHT a rarity in fast-paced Singapore is this “void deck spirit”. Ask its tenants what they love about the independent arts cluster, and the close knit, open-door culture comes up. Jerome Ang, 26, tattoo artist and owner of State of Shiok, an art studio that organises tattoo workshops, shares that he set up shop at Pearl’s Hill Terrace in 2021.

Besides being a community for creatives, 195 PHT draws a diverse mix of visitors, ranging from Gen Zs and millennials, to Singaporean families and expats. Jerome recounts a tattoo event that attracted not only young adults and teenagers, but also families with children.

“It’s quite vibey, especially on weekends. We’ve had several events, such as art markets and art performances. Recently, there was a fund-raising event, Art for Gaza, by artists – they gathered local Singaporean creatives together to raise funds [for humanitarian efforts], even those who don’t have a studio at 195 PHT,” says Jerome.

Plans for redevelopment

For some, 195 PHT is a place where special memories are made. Zac has marked a significant milestone here: He met his wife at the bar in 2021, and they got hitched three years later. “I just married a Polish woman, Anya, and we held our wedding right here,” says the 48-year-old as he gazes at the unruly courtyard of the bar.

Zac points to a tree in the middle of the yard, surrounded by an eclectic array of deck chairs, tables, statues and plants. “My mother planted a noni tree there; [it’s part of] a little garden that we’re trying to grow. I guess you could say this place is like a home to me.”

As much as Zac considers Kult Yard a second home, his operations have taken a nomadic turn. Kult Yard, which started as Kult Kafe at Emily Hill in 2015, has moved three times in six years. Each move, he says, was a result of redevelopment plans for the places they had settled in – from the refurbishment of a colonial villa on Emily Hill to a new housing estate slated to occupy the former Turf City site in Bukit Timah.

In less than two years, Kult Yard could be facing another relocation, a fate shared by fellow tenants at 195 PHT. It was announced in November 2023 that the building is part of the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) master plan to build 6,000 public and private homes over the next 10 years. This means that its tenants have to vacate the premises by the time its lease expires in March 2025.

Following news coverage of their predicament, Minister for Home Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam toured the enclave in February this year. The lease was extended to March 2026 while “relevant agencies assess the lease and find alternatives for the tenants”, according to a report by The Straits Times.

Zac is hopeful, but as the deadline for the reassessment – which was reported to take about three months – has passed, there is some anxiety about the outcome.

“When we found this space, it reminded us of Emily Hill. I don’t know where I can find another spot like this,” shares Zac in a sombre tone

An incubator for emerging businesses

Besides its vibe, the appeal of 195 PHT is also its affordable rent. Many of its tenants are artists and small business owners who are young and just starting out as entrepreneurs.

Master tenant Jerry Tan, who leased the building from the Singapore Land Authority in 2007, shares that rent for 60 sq ft and 80 sq ft units start from $500 per month – a rate not often heard of for a centrally located property.

The soft-spoken 63-year-old shares: “We hardly increase the rent here. If you love the arts, you must understand the challenges faced by the arts community. You must be prepared to let them owe you rent because, sometimes, they are not able to make payment on time.”

Passionately advocating for more awareness of Pearl’s Hill Terrace as a starting point for many young and aspiring entrepreneurs are the founders of metalsmithing studio Clink Clank Clunk, Junie Lim, 32, and Raymond Luo, 36.

“Coming out of Covid in mid-2021, there was a strong sense of resilience among everyone. They were all here to pursue the arts and experiment with their businesses. For example, Daniel Ong from Hands On Film, a film developing studio, has a remarkable story of moving within this building three times, each time to a bigger unit, and now he’s based in Bali Lane,” says Raymond.

Inspired by how emerging businesses here can grow and become more established, Raymond decided to start an Instagram page (@195pearlshillterrace) and website (195pearlshillterrace.com) dedicated to documenting these developments.

“I keep referring to 195 PHT as a ‘natural incubator’, because it fosters creativity and growth without a formal programme. When I saw all these things happening, I thought, we need to start recording these stories,” he says.

The reason why this place works, adds Raymond, is because of its accessibility – just a three-minute walk from Chinatown MRT station – and curation of tenants.

“The density of small arts businesses here creates a unique community. The people who visit 195 PHT are those who would be open to engaging in workshops and experiences. For example, someone visiting pottery studio The Potters’ Guilt might come across our business and think, ‘Hey, I want to try metalworking’, and give it a go,” he says.

And even as the deadline for 195 PHT looms, the enclave still draws new tenants like Arterly Obsessed, an art studio that moved in two months ago. Previously located in an inaccessible industrial estate, it was co-founded by Guo Yixiu and Keith Ang, both 35, who were drawn to the central location and free-spirited sensibility.

“We wanted to tell people that we are really authentic about what we do, that we are an art studio that’s run by artists, which is why we loved this space when we saw it. But we didn’t consider it initially because we thought it was going to end its lease in March 2025,” says Yixiu.

Shares Keith: “Other arts enclaves like Goodman Arts Centre are a bit more inaccessible, being further out [from the city centre]. If you want to build culture, we really need to keep some prime locations for artists that are accessible to the public.”

Kampong Glam & Tanjong Pagar: Heritage businesses that are still standing

In a country where property is one of the most valuable assets, it’s not surprising that in prime historic districts like Kampong Glam and Tanjong Pagar, shophouses are sought after by developers and investors. In spite of challenges like rising rents and gentrification, three long-standing business owners are steadfast in their calling to keep their trade alive.

Ng Yeow Hua, 73, the third generation artisan-owner of Say Tian Hng Buddha Shop at Neil Road, works quietly on the restoration of an effigy. His work station is nestled under the staircase of a two-storey shophouse facing a busy main road and the newly opened Thomson-East Coast MRT line.

The family-run heritage business, headed by matriarch Tan Chwee Lian, 93, specialises in the craft of creating and restoring Taoist effigies by hand. While Say Tian Hng has navigated the tide of time since 1896, the growing scarcity of its craft, and the lack of interest among younger generations in picking up this labour-intensive art, is threatening its survival.

Add to that the constantly changing landscape of Tanjong Pagar, where conservation areas like Neil Road are lined with trendy cafes, bars, restaurants and offices that change hands every two years or so.

Ng Tze Yong, 44, the elder son of Yeow Hua, surmises that it would have been an uphill battle to keep the business alive were it not for the fact that they own their space.

“When we were asked by the government to move out of our original location in Gemmill Lane in the late ’80s, my grandfather purchased this shophouse. Even though the property was much cheaper then, it was still a stretch for us. But he bit the bullet because, in his mind, every business needs a home. If you’re a tenant, you will always be a nomad, and it’s hard to sustain yourself when you don’t have full control,” he says.

Gentrification, he adds, is inevitable because, ultimately, it is driven by consumption. “Gentrification occurs simply because it’s financially viable. New landlords and tenants come in because they are able to make money, and that’s because the public values and spends money on what they offer. It’s neither good nor bad. It’s a natural outcome.”

In terms of supporting heritage businesses, Tze Yong believes that they must look to themselves to “make it work”. He says: “We must aim for heritage products to hold their own in the marketplace.”

To keep up with the rapidly developing world, Tze Yong, who balances a full-time job at a philanthropic grantmaker with an apprenticeship at Say Tian Hng, is codifying the knowledge of the craft with technology. In 2022, Say Tian Hng received an Organisation Transformation Grant from the National Heritage Board (NHB), which aims to help heritage businesses innovate.

With that, Tze Yong created a database of 3-D scans of the shop’s most beloved masterpieces, which will allow them to be 3-D-printed quickly, cheaply and in different sizes, to serve as prototypes for future apprentices to craft and experiment on.

Tze Yong might be tapping on a potential market. He observes that while the shop attracts tourists from all over the world, it draws young Singaporeans who are curious about their craft too.

“I see my dad interacting a lot more with the younger generation these days, people who aren’t his usual customers from the temples. That’s the part that has surprised me. When we started the Heritage Tours about four or five years ago, I expected 80 per cent tourists and 20 per cent Singaporeans. In the end, it was the opposite.”

As it turns out, Singaporeans and long-term residents, such as expats, are always looking to dig deeper into the country’s culture and history.

“When they walk around the neighbourhood and find a shop like ours, it’s very precious to them. I see the emotion it evokes, even if they aren’t customers or don’t buy anything. Our shop catches their attention because it represents something that they feel belongs to them – a piece of heritage we’ve been trying to preserve,” says Tze Yong.

Like Tze Yong and his family, 79-year-old Keng Ah Wong is well aware of the challenges of operating a niche trade in the era of mass production. He is also the owner of his two-storey shophouse unit at 51 Craig Road, which houses an eclectic mix of antiques and tchotchkes that were donated by his customers or purchased from them over the years.

The sprightly proprietor of Tong Mern Sern Antiques Arts & Crafts – who started his antiques trading business in the 1980s after being retrenched from his job as a shipyard worker – moved from Tanglin to River Valley previously. As these districts were sectioned for redevelopment by the URA, he finally settled at his current space in Tanjong Pagar in the late ’80s, after making a successful tender for his 99-year lease two-storey unit. He estimated it to have cost about $700K then. Now, he says the shophouse probably has a market value of about $10 million.

Keng states plainly that it would have been virtually impossible for his business to survive if he were not his own landlord. Rent, he speculates, would cost him about $20K for the ground floor, and about $5,000 to $6,000 for the upper level today.

“How can I afford to pay rent for a shophouse nowadays? I make maybe one sale per day. Most customers are excited to see my shop, but they come in to browse only,” he waves dismissively.

“Some fools buy, some fools sell” is his slogan, which is emblazoned on a yellow banner that hangs at the entrance, and it seems he is determined not to fall in the latter category.

He could have cashed out on a seven-figure sum, given that the shophouse market is booming – 20 were sold in the first quarter of 2024, totalling $169.1 million. Some of the priciest deals in 2023 included a three-storey shophouse on Stanley Street that changed hands for $29 million.

But money is not everything, shrugs Keng, when asked why he chose to stay put. For him, his business is what keeps him going every day.

“What can you do with the money? I really enjoy my job. I work, I meet people, and I talk to my customers,” he says as he greets a friend who comes bearing plastic bags of vegetables from his community garden.

Support for heritage businesses

While areas like Chinatown, Tanjong Pagar and Kampong Glam, being designated as conservation areas, have the strictest building conservation standards, they are not immune to the redevelopment happening within the walls of shophouses.

“What overseas literature suggests is that heritage properties are sought after for their unique value, the belief that they won’t be compulsorily acquired, their beauty, and how they are rare – people tend to pay more money for rarity,” says Singapore Management University (SMU) Associate Professor Edward Ti, who published a paper noting that conserving heritage buildings in Singapore raises the value of neighbouring properties.

Iszahar Tambunan, the third generation owner of Sabar Menanti, a nasi padang restaurant in Kampong Glam, reveals that it had been a struggle to keep up with the rising rents in the neighbourhood, especially after the pandemic.

“When I took over the business from my mum in 2021, we were paying $7,500 in rent per month for a ground floor shophouse unit. It belonged to a friend of mine, and she received an extremely attractive offer from a buyer for the shophouse. I still had my lease to continue and reached out to the new landlord. It was a shock when they told me they would increase the rent to $15K a month.”

The exorbitant rent, followed by pandemic restrictions, manpower crunch and labour involved in operating a nasi padang restaurant led Iszahar to consider shutting the nearly 100-year-old business and returning to his previous job as a ship broker. Help arrived after their lease ended in September 2021, when government agencies like the URA and NHB provided assistance in sourcing for a more sustainable location.

Says Iszahar: “It’s fortunate that we are a heritage business – a Muslim investment agency helped facilitate the move to our current unit at 719 North Bridge Road. Now, I’m not paying rent that is overly crazy, and I know I can sustain the business because I can also seat up to 100 pax [up from 40 in the previous unit].”

More importantly, he is able to keep Sabar Menanti going for his children, who are 12-year-old twins. “My kids are already helping me in the business, and I know my daughter has a liking for it. I told her that I will hold on to the business for as long as I can,” he says.

The power of nostalgia

When Peace Centre was slated for demolition following an en bloc sale, droves of Singaporeans took to the 47-year-old mall to express themselves through rave parties and experimental projects in its final days. Similarly, iconic locations like the People’s Park Complex carpark and Rochor Centre drew young Instagrammers before their closure. What is it about the past that brings us together?

Pearl’s Hill Terrace isn’t alone in being attractive to creatives or brands eyeing the cheaper rent and the rustic vibe afforded by an older building. Take The Projector, which opened an independent cinema at Golden Mile Tower in 2014, or the various shops renting at Peace Centre during the six-month-long community-building efforts before it shut down in January this year.

Besides the vibes, these buildings are home to decades of cherished memories, which means accumulated goodwill can be channelled. Many individuals with a connection to the building came back to show their support.

“There was a locksmith in the basement, there from Day One of Peace Centre. The daughter of the locksmith grew up in the building,” recalls Yvonne Siow, co-founder of Playpan, the social movement behind the six-month extension to Peace Centre’s lease.

“When we took over Peace Centre, they helped everyone with the locks and keys and provided community pricing.” The space appealed both to older generations with nostalgia towards the building, and younger generations who enjoyed the grunge aesthetic, which meant there were different groups and profiles coming in.

Yvonne gave the example of jam sessions that appealed to different demographics: “We see younger people talking with people of older ages, enjoying their kind of music, and vice versa. A very new form of collaboration also happens.”

The appeal of historical spaces

The value of heritage in a city should not be ignored. “Heritage is important for city planning, because you want to ensure that you can create environments where people feel like they belong, and where they have a shared history or shared sense of community,” says Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) Assistant Professor Tan Shin Bin, who studies urban policy.

“Heritage, whether it’s built or the practices that go within the buildings, is also a huge economic driver, and a way to brand the city, almost. There’s a strong element of appealing to both local audiences and international tourists,” elaborates Prof Tan.

Yet, speaking about the importance of heritage raises the question of what heritage means in Singapore’s context. “Currently, when you are looking at heritage value, it makes sense that we consider national or architectural significance – but should we also think about the day-to-day value of regular buildings as well?” asks Prof Tan.

Calling 20th century buildings like Peace Centre, People’s Park Complex or even Pearl’s Hill Terrace heritage might be a stretch to some. “As a country that is very young, even a building that’s 50 or 60 years old has a lot of significance in our individual stories – because of that, they may be considered heritage,” she says.

“Singapore is a small country; we cannot save everything. If you open a broader dialogue with people to come to a consensus on definitions of heritage, I think there is potential to re-examine together what people think are important markers of heritage, and what they are willing to give up, so that’s maybe a conversation I’d like to see happen,” says Prof Tan.

Reframing what heritage means today

Conversely, the idea of heritage goes beyond just “old buildings”, according to architect and author Tay Kheng Soon, who designed People’s Park Complex, one of Singapore’s most iconic buildings.

“As an architect, I’ve realised that my work goes beyond the conservation of buildings. Keeping a few old buildings in Singapore isn’t going to shape our future. As we navigate identity issues, various aspects impact our sense of self and nostalgia. [The question is] what are we nostalgic about?” says the 84-year-old, who recently launched a memoir – A New World in the Making: Life and Architecture in Tropical Asia – on identity, landscape and belonging.

“For instance, when Golden Mile Complex was sold, people asked me how I felt about it. Honestly, I didn’t feel much. The real significance lies in our shared heritage and cultural integration. There is a deep genetic resonance that unites us at a fundamental level.”

Kheng Soon says a broader and more strategic approach is needed to foster a shared sense of identity: “While keeping significant old buildings contributes to nostalgia and national identity, Singapore needs to look towards regional unity to survive in the conflicted times we are now entering. To do this, we need to tap shared identities in our South-east Asian heritage.”

He explains that building upon these is a real challenge involving the arts, architecture, languages, dress styles, manners, food, and “especially in the sense of accommodation we have for each other”.

“These must be highlighted, despite divisive tendencies that always do exist. This is the heritage project I espouse over and beyond the mere conservation of buildings, even though I do appreciate that,” he says.

PHOTOGRAPHY Lawrence Teo
ART DIRECTION Adeline Eng
COORDINATION Chelsia Tan & Saw Yone Yone
ADDITIONAL RESEARCH Saw Yone Yone